Hartlepool United boss Ronnie Moore praised his players spirit after they secured a 1-0 victory over the in-form Northampton Town.

Marvin Morgan netted on his home debut for Pools early in the second half to reduce the gap to Sky Bet League 2 safety to six points.

Moore was thrilled to see his half-time team talk inject new life into his side, and insists he knows what it takes to survive in The Football League.

He told hartlepoolunited.co.uk: “That was an immense result for us.

“It was always going to be a tight game when you consider the results they’ve had recently. There weren’t many chances in the first half but it got a bit lively in the second half after we scored.

“At half time we asked them to up the tempo; it was dead and we couldn’t get the crowd going and that was handy for the away team.

“We had to move the ball quicker, be a bit more direct and put it in the right areas – and thankfully we got the goal at the right time and that forced them to come out a bit more.

“We had to defend a lot of balls in to the box but I thought the two centre-backs were immense when they had to be, and on the break we had umpteen chances really – we just needed someone to put the knife in and kill them off.

“We knew how important this game was; results have gone fairly well for us but, as I keep saying, it’s about what we do and we have to keep taking care of our own results now.”